July 1, 2015

UOW ‘Learning Labs’ program expands in popularity

The highly successful UOW ‘Learning Labs’ program has expanded again. More than 750 high-achieving students are descending on the Wollongong campus during their July school holidays to take part in fun and challenging workshops.

Due to a growing demand within the local community, the gifted and talented program is now on offer to students from Year 1 right through to Year 10.

Conducted by the In2Uni Team at the University, Learning Labs Project Coordinator, Sarah Smith, has been steadily building the program since its inception in 2012. The high school program, ‘Learning Labs’, for high-achieving students in Years 7 to 10 will run on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 July.

This year the primary school program has been split into two streams; ‘Little Learning Labs’ for Year 1 and 2 students and ‘Early Learning Labs’ for Year 3 to 6 students. Workshops will be led by teachers with specialist training or a specific interest in gifted education. The program has proved to be extremely popular with all workshops full and many more students on waiting lists. Some of the workshops offered will include building video games, LEGO robotics, 3D animation, biology, poetry and graphic design.

Little Learning Labs will take place on 30 June and 1 July. Early Learning Labs will be held on 7 and 8 July.

The high school ‘Learning Labs’ program will include workshops held on the Wollongong campus and Innovation Campus. The new science and technology workshops, Mythbusting Physics, 3D Modelling and CAD Design and An Introduction to Building Video Games have proven to be extremely popular with students who travel from all over the region to participate.

“Each workshop for the high school program has been developed and will be presented by university academics or specialists who are leaders in their particular field,” Ms Smith said.

“We know this program is successful as students keep returning to the University to attend ‘Learning Labs’ and now with the primary school program, we are seeing younger siblings attend -- it’s lovely to see the whole family on campus. We plan to give high-achieving students from the region something different to what they can achieve at school –a real university experience with a variety of dynamic and challenging workshops that suits their interests,” Ms Smith said.